Integrating an expert system into a thermal unit-commitment algorithm

An expert system is developed by combining the knowledge of experienced power system operators and unit commitment experts to assist operators in scheduling thermal generating units. The expert system is used as a preprocessor as well as a postprocessor to the truncated dynamic-programming based unit commitment program to obtain an operationally feasible and/or preferable solution. The operator´s interaction with the expert system is minimized by transferring all the relevant data and results of the unit commitment program to the expert system as a knowledge base. Some of the complex operating constraints that are not violated frequently and/or are difficult to include in the unit commitment program are enforced by the expert system